December 5, 2011

Few contact lens wearers follow care guidelines, finds research from the U of Texas Southwestern Med Ctr. While most of the 533 users interviewed for the study know of the complications related to safe contact lens use, research indicates that the average patient performs 50% of the recommended safety practices. Patients know, for example, about good hygiene practices.They know not to top off contact lens solution but to replace it instead, and they know to protect lenses from tap water, which includes taking them out before showering. Study authors Dr. Danielle Robertson and Dr. H. Dwight Cavanagh say that education is not what’s needed to change patient behavior. "New strategies and approaches to effectively modify inherent patient non-compliance are urgently needed.”

Smokers who receive a breast lift are at great risk of their nipples falling off, warns Anthony Youn, M.D. in his memoir, In Stitches. Youn, writing his story on CNN, explains that the carbon monoxide and nicotine in cigarettes can diminish blood blow in parts of the body like the nipples. When one of Youn's patients apparently ignored warnings not to smoke before or after her sugery, her nipples turned purple, the color before black, when nipples will fall off. To treat the patient, Youn used leeches, which can clear away old blood, to restore the nipple to a healthy pink color. The leeches were placed on the patient's nipples intermittently for days to allow new blood vessels to grow in the area. Smokers who get a facelift are also at risk of cheek skin during black.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that rice contains high levels of arsenic. The study looked at arsenic levels in 229 pregnant women living in New Hampshire that private water wells that were not regulated which is also a source of the element which is found naturally in the environment and is taken up by the rice plant. Women who consumed rice ate the national daily average of a half a cup. The women reported their rice consumption and urinary arsenic was measured. Women who ate rice had urinary arsenic levels at one and a half time higher than those who did not and elevated levels in the water directly correlated to urinary arsenic. Increased arsenic has been tied to low birth weight, infant mortality and may harm children’s brains.